Republicans question PBS funding

Posted: Thursday, July 15, 1999

By ALEXIS CHIUAssociated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - What started with campaign mailings to a little boy by the Democratic National Committee has become an embarrassing episode for a Boston TV station that could threaten funding for public broadcasting nationwide.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are demanding a review of public broadcasting after learning that WGBH-TV swapped its donor list with the Democratic Party earlier this year. The practice was discovered in May, after the child got a fund-raising pitch and ``agenda survey'' from the committee.

Party officials said the station has been swapping names with the party since 1994, handing over a total of more than 32,000 names, The Boston Globe reported today.

Jenny Backus, a DNC spokeswoman, said the station approached the Democrats about name-swapping in 1993, and station officials were given 5,000 names of Democratic donors to approach for money. WGBH got an additional 7,800 names the next year.

Also in 1994, station officials gave the names of their own contributors to the DNC, Backus said.

A WGBH spokeswoman told the newspaper that the station did not implement a policy of refusing to swap names with political parties until 1994, a year after making the deal with the DNC.

WGBH had acknowledged giving a list of donors' names earlier this year to the DNC, despite tax laws that prohibit public stations from playing political favorites.

``It would be unfortunate if members of Congress take action against the whole system because one member made a mistake,'' said Angela Lifsey, a WGBH spokeswoman. ``What happened was not a partisan situation. It was the result of administrative errors.''

The House Commerce Committee was scheduled to consider hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for public broadcasting on Wednesday, but the meeting was postponed because of the furor. Lawmakers said they want to hold a hearing first to air their concerns, probably in the next few weeks.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the committee's telecommunications subcommittee, said he will reduce his funding proposal for public broadcasting.

``This isn't punitive,'' said Tauzin's spokesman, Ken Johnson. But Johnson said: ``The worst part about this whole thing is that it feeds the old stereotypes. There are a number of people in our party who are absolutely convinced that public broadcasting is in the hip pocket of the Democratic Party and liberals in this country.''

The name swap was discovered in May amid media reports that Sam Black, a 4-year-old boy from Wellesley who watches public TV's ``Barney,'' had been receiving mail from the DNC.

His mother, Jody Black, had donated $40 to WGBH last fall in gratitude for its children's programs. She made the donation in her name and Sam's.

Officials said the station mistakenly gave a few thousand names to the DNC in exchange for an equal number of names. The deal was made by new employees who weren't aware of station policy, WGBH said.